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TIME Unlimited Tours from Auckland selected as Finalist in Worldwide Eco-Tourism Award
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Environmental & Social Sustainability on our Auckland ToursFollowing consideration of the importance of environmental sustainability and a commitment to be a benefit to the community, TIME Unlimited Tours is committed to strive to achieve environmental and social sustainability for all our tours, which include Auckland Tours and Private Tours further afield but close to teh Auckland region to such places as Rotorua, Waitomo, the Bay of Islands and the Coromandel. Following consideration of the importance of environmental sustainability and a commitment to be a benefit to the Auckland region and our people, we have decided to implement any steps that assist environmental and social sustainability for our guided tours around the Auckland region.
Auckland is New Zealand’s largest city with a population of 1.3 million people. It is New Zealand’s largest city and the largest Polynesian city in the world, which is blessed with beautiful surroundings and several amazing parks and many other places that have local, national and international significance. The various Regional Parks around Auckland have beautiful scenery, forests, black and white sand beaches, unique wildlife and many scenic places that are worth preserving for future generations.
TIME Unlimited Tours are committed to continually improve our environmental and social sustainability performance. Our Environmental Approach can best be described with our Environmental Policy.
The following are some of our additional initiatives in our striving to be a model company working toward sustainable practices, educating our visitors on cultural protocols and biodiversity conservation (PLEASE NOTE: This text and the entire content of our website is subject to copyright!):
- Use of various tour locations and restriction of numbers on tours (small personal groups) used in planning tours to reduce environmental impact/footprint in each location;
- Educating our clients via safety and environmental briefing and throughout each tour – including information to take out more rubbish than we have generated. To enhance awareness about sustainability issues and environmental considerations - includes encouragement to pick up others’ discarded rubbish;
- Sustainable fishing practices observed and at ALL times strict adherence to legal limits and sizes as per legal requirements – often educate foreign visitors on these issues Determine with clients their requirements (i.e. if staying in hotel then they are unable to ‘take home’ fish or if they are happy with ‘catch&release’ methods);
- Always ensure clients are aware of keeping to designated tracks, no disturbing of flora or fauna, safe toileting practices, NZ bush code, not disturbing wildlife, etc… To ensure we preserve the environment to leave it as we found it (or better!);
- Catching own bait or reusing bait/fish off-cuts for future trips This ensures not only costs are contained but that bait resources are re-used and to reduce packaging as much as possible we use artificial, bio-degradeable baits, which means we don’t have to keep re-purchasing bait for use on our kayak fishing tours. Artificial baits such as soft baits and lures can be re-used repeatedly and trolled behind our kayaks while enjoying the scenery. We also, where possible, catch our own bait beforehand and use this on our fishing tours. This means that no packaging, transport to supermarket with emissions etc. need to be incurred when taking this approach;
- We turn off any unused electrical or home office equipment and seek to place on powersave any regularly used items To ensure we look at energy efficiency options;
- Use energy efficient lighting options like ecobulbs when possible As a home based business, where our purchasing decisions can be made we opt for eco-friendly products or services if they are available (i.e. Cartridge world offers recycled printer cartridges);
- Recycle printing cartridges See above;
- Changed from disposal bags to reusable boxes for snack-packs; we do not use any disposal items Minimise waste;
- Purchased new eco-water bottles for clients which are made from vegetable oils, not standard oil based raw materials Minimise waste and to ensure we are giving away items that are in line with our environmental practices;
- Sponsorship of community organisations like SIRCET on Stewart Island for their predator eradication programme To support environmental initiatives that are within our business budget and best-fit with our business ideals;
- Support local businesses and school fundraising As above;
- Our Auckland Maori Tours and Maori TIME events benefit local communities with social and economic benefits. Also reduction in travel-related environmental impact by working locally;
- More water efficient vehicle and gear washdown options This further reduces water use options;
- Recycle plastics such as milk bottles as floats in kite fishing tours It is one way we can contribute to minimising waste and recycle a product that we can use directly in our tours!
- All kayaks, kites and materials are locally produced and sourced where possible To support local businesses and ensure we understand where our raw materials are sourced;
- Use only genuine NZ made products where possible (e.g. Paua products fully made and produced in NZ) We have had to arrange client and partner gifts and have ensured we got these locally produced from reputable suppliers;
- All brochure printing now on sustainable paper Any new marketing material is designed to be printed on environmentally responsible paper;
- We attempt to maximise our use of electronic communications. We ensure paperless options are first choice like sending documents via email and using USB to transfer large documents This reduces need for paper printing and postage costs;
- We commit to ongoing training and development in areas of safety, risk and environmental management (i.e. mountain safety, OPC risk management, VHF, First Aid, etc… This is our commitment to ongoing self education and business excellence to walk the talk;
- Where possible we holiday locally and avoid unnecessary air travel. To reduce carbon emissions;
- We seek to minimise the distance we need to commute. We look at options for reducing our travel (i.e take ferry to city rather than car). We also consider telecommuting and skyping as options to reduce the need to travel to reduce carbon emissions;
- We regularly have our vehicles serviced to maximise fuel efficiency. We also use our air conditioning sparingly to to reduce carbon emissions;
- Some home based options we use are to:
• Recycle paper, cardboard, aluminium and steel cans, plastic, glass bottles, milk containers and toner cartridges.
• Don't use paper or plastic cups, wooden stirrers or plastic spoons. Crockery and cutlery can be used over again.
• Select products with minimal packaging.
• Take our own bags to the supermarket.
• Refuse to take plastic bags when buying goods.
- Seek out partner organisations that also value the environment and Biodiversity. Working with quality and like-minded organisations helps to spread the message that we look for and expect quality from our industry partners too.
Please also check out our pages on:
• Biodiversity & Sustainability
• Cultural heritage and protocols
• Biodiversity conservation
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